The Dynamic Trio
by robert3A-SN
Summary: Ben thinks he's picking Leslie up at Ann's for their second official date. Yet Leslie instead arranges for him and Ann to have dinner there, so that her best friend and boyfriend can get to know each other better.


**Warning: Spoilers for "Road Trip" and "The Fight"**

Being relaxed and at ease was relatively new for Ben Wyatt. Getting into politics at 18, and then spending the next 17 years facing the wrath of small towns, can do that to a person. Even when he found a home in Pawnee, and someone to share that new home with, it brought a different brand of anxiety- albeit one that was easier to live with. Yet now that he and that someone had worked out all of their kinks and obstacles, perhaps it was time for Ben to let a little guard down.

Several weeks ago, his guard was up at full force, in the futile pursuit to resist kissing Leslie Knope. But almost in the blink of an eye, he had lost that battle, and then helped Leslie win their battle to date publicly. Then they got through the next great obstacle of Leslie's first date madness, and only got out with one or two little scratches. But now that they had overcome their own fears, Chris's policies, and first date health threats, it seemed the sky was the limit.

Every major obstacle in the way of them being together had been checked off now. And now Ben was about to pick Leslie up for their second official date, which she would be much more at ease with. It did confuse him a bit why he had to pick her up at Ann's, and not her own house. But he figured that Leslie had some pre-date plans to go over with Ann, which actually made him more anxious. After all, if she was better at second dates than first ones, and she just had her best first date ever with him, who knows what she'd have planned to make this the best second date?

After parking in front of Ann's, Ben took exactly a minute to get his imagination under control. Once he did, he headed over to Ann's front door, and readied himself to knock. Although he was getting nervous again, this was more of an excited nervous than usual. Some of the old panicked nerves were there, but only because he didn't want to embarrass himself, once he gazed at Leslie's dinner outfit.

Ben knocked on the door, and mentally prepared himself for however Leslie would top herself tonight. But when it opened, Leslie actually looked a lot like Ann instead. Belatedly, Ben figured out that it was because the real Ann was there.

Well, it was her house, so why wouldn't she be there? Still, Ben had to readjust himself to talk to someone other than Leslie. "Um, hello Ann. Is Leslie ready?"

Ann didn't answer, which confused Ben, since he didn't sound that disappointed or embarrassed. Yet she still looked awkward anyway, and unsure of how to talk to him.

"You made it! You're a minute late, but you made it!" Now that voice was more like it, as Ben squeezed past Ann to get inside and find the voice's owner.

Leslie was indeed there, yet she was still in her work clothes, instead of her other stunning outfits. What's more, she seemed to be preparing Ann's dinner table, and making some final adjustments. "There we go, the forks are in just the right place, and it only took 20 extra minutes!"

"Leslie, why did you need 20 extra minutes on forks? Are we eating here or something?" Now Ben was reverting back into confused mode.

"Well, you and Ann are, but I'm not. Now that you're here, and now that the silverware stopped putting up a fight, you guys can get started and I can take off!"

This is what Ben got for reflecting on being relaxed. It's like he directly asked the universe to confuse him and put him on edge again. "Take off for what? And what are me and Ann supposed to start on, exactly?"

"Okay, um…..I was able to explain this to Ann, but it took her an hour before she got it. I'll have to do the short version with you, before the food's ready." While Leslie thought about whatever big speech she had planned, Ben turned to Ann for any hint of clarity. But she just shrugged, as she seemed to think Leslie could better explain….whatever this was.

"Okay, I can edit down to the main points now! I'll just keep the ones about you two being my favorite people, you guys needing to get to know each other better, me setting up dinner for you so you can do that, and us being a stronger threesome afterwards! There, that saved about 59 extra minutes right there!" Leslie put on her smile of accomplishment, but for once, it wasn't reassuring Ben or making him fall harder for her.

"You want me and Ann to have dinner….instead of us going out on our second date?"

"No, no, I'm not asking you to choose between them. You'll have dinner with Ann first, and then we can go out again, it's the best of everything!" Only one half of that still seemed like the best to Ben, however.

"And how come I need to be with Ann before we can go out again?"

"Damn, I thought I made it clear earlier! That's what I get for not using the 10-minute version of my speech." Leslie recollected herself, as if this was the most normal task in the world. "Ann was my all-time favorite person, and now you've pulled into a tie. So I want all three of us to do fun stuff together now, but we can't until you two can get along."

"What do you mean, we get along just fine. We haven't had to talk or hang out that much without you around, but we get along fine," Ben pointed out to try and salvage the night.

"Yeah, but that can't be enough anymore! I want you guys to have as much fun around each other as I have with Ann, and you! Well, maybe you shouldn't have the fun you and me have, but everything else is fair game! Then we can go from the Dynamic Duo to a Trio, and I can split time more easily between you, and I won't have to pick sides when you two fight, because you won't! Works out for everyone, right?"

Although this sounded slightly clearer to Ben now, he still had doubts on whether it was working out right now. Since Leslie was done for the moment, he turned back to Ann to get a second opinion. "And you're….okay with this?"

"It got easier to give in after an hour or two. I know she's only giving you a minute, but it'll still be easier to give in anyway."

"See, she gets it!" Leslie cheered. "Come on, Ben, get it too! I promise we'll go out by ourselves later, but just do this for me….for us, first! Please, please, please, please?" Ben had never had much luck saying no to Leslie, whether it was in their early battles or their friendship days. He knew that he'd have no chance in their relationship days either- but her using an actual pout, and more of a pleading voice than a combative one, was just playing incredibly dirty. "Well, since you used four pleases instead of three…."

"I knew four was just right, thank you, thank you! Wait, I mean thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! Wait, do those first two still count?" Somehow, Leslie got back to her original train of thought. "Never mind, I'll figure it out on the way back home. I'll be back in an hour, hour and a half tops, so you two get to work having fun!"

Leslie gave Ben a kiss goodbye, and a hug goodbye to Ann, then quickly headed out to leave them to their fun. As if they had any idea how to make that happen.

But since Ben didn't seem capable of breaking the ice yet, Ann tried her best. "So….Leslie made sure we had calzones on the menu."

Indeed, although it grossed her out, Leslie did get calzones for the occasion, and made sure that Ben and Ann's other favorite foods would be part of this dinner. Of course, Ann had to do most of the cooking, but since they were eating their favorite night-time foods, there wasn't much she could have done to ruin it. So having these treats was helping to make the dinner part of the dinner go by, although the ice was still largely unbroken.

Ben was still stewing in disappointment that he wasn't eating with Leslie, or admiring her. But he figured that she would admire him a little less if he didn't actually try to talk to Ann. He certainly couldn't lie well enough and just say he did, so he'd have to give her some facts. So he searched for a potential topic, but wound up coming up with a joke instead. "Shouldn't we have Al Green playing or something?" he quipped, referring to Ann's special addition to Leslie's sexual-tension killing CD.

Ann was startled a bit, but then relieved that she wasn't just listening to herself eat anymore. "Actually, I don't own any of his records. I just put on the first thing I found that was even remotely sexy….or at least not about ladders."

At the least, this was jogging Ben's memory about something he did need to say to Ann. "I should thank you for trying to lend a hand on that. It wasn't the thing that made us finally give in, but it did let me touch her eyelash."

"That was almost exactly what I was going for. I'm just relieved you two gave in at any point, to be honest. But it's about time you did."

"Yeah, and we were just starting to catch up on lost time now." Ben failed to bite his tongue in time to stop that comment. "I mean, um, not that you're not bad company instead, and not that you need to make Leslie think that!"

"It's all right, I know what you mean. This wasn't my idea, obviously. I wanted you guys to have a great time and have her go on and on about it all day tomorrow. But when she gets one of her ideas, you know how hard it is to talk her out of it." At that line of thinking, Ann found a way to have her first fun of the night. "Like when she wants to keep her department going as it is, even when state auditors say it's 'fiscally irresponsible.' You can talk all you want about fiscally, but it's not going to get through."

"Funny how that tends to work out," Ben responded knowingly. At least bringing Leslie up was putting him on familiar ground. "She just has this way of warping your priorities….I mean, look at us. We had regular old lives before a year or two ago, and now our worlds pretty much revolve around her."

"Don't I know it," Ann pointed out. "I mean, we both had the flimsiest excuses to keep coming down there every day. I was just a nurse, you were a state auditor overseeing a ton of departments, and we kept coming to one little parks department anyway. But she kept drawing us in, and now we both have jobs that give us another excuse to keep coming, mainly due to her."

"Yeah, she did sell us on jobs we didn't think we wanted at first," Ben reflected.

"Especially in places like the parks department. I love it around there, don't get me wrong, but sometimes I need a good, long hospital shift just to feel normal again. The things they get themselves into….I mean, for the first year or so, I thought I was the only sane person in that building." At that line, Ann took a closer glance at Ben. "But I guess you took over that straight man part when you arrived. Maybe that's the other thing we have in common, since we may just be the only normals around here."

"Well…..I think that ship sailed quite a while ago." Ann was a bit curious to where Ben was going with this. "I'm obviously a lost cause thanks to Leslie, and I think the media blitz proved I can go nuts even without her. And you've been in some wacky stuff yourself lately, after what happened with Chris."

Ann's curiosity certainly wasn't rewarded with that statement. "That's funny, I thought you of all people would make this a Chris-free zone. I mean, he did make us both miserable for some time without even knowing it. At least you got to get him back by wrecking his policy."

"I know, but I still have to work with the guy, and you have to report to him sometimes too. He's….easier to understand and put up with when he's not dumping you so nicely, or barging into dinners in Indianapolis. Once you have that distance, the murder fantasies stop after a while."

Ann chuckled knowingly, briefly indulging in how welcoming Chris was in their interview. But she tried to brush that aside with the first topic she could think of. "You want to hear something funny? Promise to not throw up?"

"Um, yes and….I guess so." Ann reconsidered if this would really be funny, but it was too late to back off now. "When Leslie was talking about you guys on the first day, and she was bashing you and saying how much nicer Chris was….I almost thought her and Chris might be good together."

"Okay, now I have to change my 'I guess so' to 'not a chance in hell'," Ben said with a sickened frown.

"I know, I know, but you gotta admit they are the most positive, perky people we know. In fact, Chris is like a more extreme version of Leslie's cheer and positive attitude, only with better eating habits! If some outsider was looking at them, like I was back then, they might think they'd be more compatible….at least more than her and a guy she kept calling mean Ben."

"That's why they're outsiders, then, isn't it?" Ben said with more of a joking tone than he thought he'd be able to muster. "It may have taken a few months for me and Leslie to look compatible, I know. But any outsiders who checked in after that would probably know better."

"They sure did, trust me on that much."

"Besides, Chris's positive attitude has nothing on Leslie. His makes him too oblivious to realize what he's doing a lot of the time. Maybe it's the same with her sometimes, but it comes from a place of so many more perfect things than his." Somehow, Ben caught himself before going on a total Leslie spiel. "But still, that doesn't mean someone would be dumb to think Chris had perfect things, at one time or another. Or that not being around his imperfect things makes someone any less perfect."

Ann deciphered enough of that to realize she was being comforted, and smiled, although Ben looked a bit lost himself. "You did get that the someone was you, right? I get my metaphors tripped up sometimes, since I had to use them too many times with Leslie."

"No, this one was pretty clear cut, thank you." Ann now felt ready to get off her Chris-reflections for the night, with one more comment. "At least it didn't drag out as long as it did with Andy." Suddenly, she lit up with another connection between her and Ben.

"But I don't have to tell you that, because he's your problem now, huh? So you know exactly where I'm coming from…..even though I didn't have April as a bonus, unlike you! That makes it a double-whammy for you," Ann stated in a half-funny, half-serious tone.

"Actually, they have their moments…..when you only have to have a few of those moments at a time. With that pace, it isn't so bad, once you only trip over their messes three times a night."

"Wow, it took me two years to get down to that with Andy. I am impressed, and a bit envious," Ann brought herself to admit.

"Well, I'm sure it's not worse than going through the average rush at the hospital."

"That only took me six months to get down pat, so point for Andy's messes!" Ann declared theatrically. "But now that I have PR work at City Hall half the week, who knows if I'll get rusty after a while."

"Do you actually like working there?" Ben asked, in a more serious tone than in the last few minutes. "I know you were…..reluctant at first, but are you less reluctant now?"

"If I was more reluctant than I was, I'd probably be on the third week of my Snakejuice hangover. But it's better than I expected, even if it's harder, too. I actually looked into those books of Leslie's after the first week….but we can keep that between us, right?"

"Of course," Ben reassured. "But I wouldn't worry, there are much worse ways to start a career in City Hall, believe me. You'll get over that low bar in no time, and you probably already have." Ann instantly knew what low bar Ben was referring to, and felt a bit disappointed that he was still finding ways to bring it up.

"Do you ever think about running for office again? Maybe not for Mayor, but in some other kind of position. I mean, after you stopped cutting everything, subdued the wrath of Leslie, and learned how to talk in front of a camera again, people grew to like you. And you've got the best possible cheerleader to convince the rest, if she has to. Since you know what not to do now, and since you have the Leslie factor on your side, you could really do better with another shot here in Pawnee."

Ben had talked himself into believing that a bunch of times, and so did Leslie whenever she got the chance. But Ann was the first person other than them to suggest that Ben should be back in office, and not as part of a joke or prank. That realization took him aback a bit, as did her idea of him holding office in Pawnee.

"Well, it's crossed my mind once or twice. But maybe I still need a little work before I take the plunge. Once I get a nice enough resume as assistant city manager, or maybe even city manager if Chris literally runs to the moon, I might have enough clout to do it."

"Oh….well, clout or no clout, I think you'd be great at it. You probably haven't heard that from someone other than Leslie in the last 17 years. But I know that'll change soon. Just don't promise to cut any nursing staffs, and you'll get my vote."

"Done!" Ben chuckled at making his first campaign promise in 17 years. "But I'll probably end up waiting until Leslie makes her run. That'll probably be the best way to re-learn the tricks of the trade."

"Oh my God, I still can't wait to see that happen," Ann squealed. "The rallies alone will be the biggest thing Pawnee's ever seen!"

"They will make life interesting for the city budget people, that's for sure. But sometimes I wonder if she would actually make that run…..not that she wouldn't succeed, of course. But she loves the parks department and everyone there so much, I wonder if she'd really leave them behind. I mean, once she got her next staff, she'd probably make them pitch colognes, call the least popular guy Jerry, and grow huge mustaches!"

Now Ann was really laughing, if only to picture Leslie putting a Ron Swanson mustache on someone else. "That's all probably gonna happen on the first day! But, but I'm sure it'll happen anyway….she loves those guys, but she won't let herself get tied down by them forever."

"How do you know?"

"Because she finally let herself risk it all to get tied down with you. It took longer than it should have, and even I couldn't get her right for a while, but she did it. And I know you already mean more to her than any future office, even if she won't admit it yet. If she was finally willing to lose the department for you, giving it up for a better job should be easy."

Whether that was true or not, the reminder of how much Leslie cared about him gave Ben a lift anyway. "You really know that, huh?" Ann nodded instantly.

"I guess you are the authority on these things. If we are two/third's of Leslie's 'Dynamic Trio' then you certainly have seniority on me," Ben conceded.

"Seniority isn't everything, Ben. She's my best friend, and even I'm not in sync with her way of thinking all the time. But you and her just click, in a way that I probably can't begin to do with her…..or anyone else, for that matter."

"Should I bring up being around imperfect things again?" Ben requested, but Ann shook it off. "In any case, it took you guys two years to have your first fight, and most of that was Snakejuice talk. I fought with her in some way for the first few months straight before we totally clicked. I wish I didn't, but there it is….and that leaves me to envy how other people have had it easier with her."

"Well, that doesn't give me any special powers," Ann confessed. "I mean, if I had them, it didn't help me understand tonight any better at first. The best I can guess is that….things have been going so well that she's still afraid it might come crashing down. I mean, she saved the department, landed her soul mate and still kept her job, and stayed conscious for a first date! Things have never fallen into place like that for her before, so she's making sure there's no other obstacle she overlooked…..like the two most important people in her life not getting along. But that's just an educated guess."

"That sounds pretty educated," Ben readily admitted. "I have my share of education too, or at least enough of it to know how much she needs you. The only non-drunken thing I took out of that crazy night is that she's not the same without you. You were here first, Ann, and there's no way I can let something like that fade away. She's not going to forget you or neglect you because she's with me now. But if she shows any signs, I promise that I'll be sure to remind her she needs her Ann time too."

"Wow…..you have it that bad for her, don't you?" Ann already knew how far gone Ben was for Leslie, but it was really coming into focus with this long look at it.

"She postponed our second date without warning me….but I still want to risk rescheduling it anyway. And schedule and reschedule other dates, for that matter." Somehow, Ben got off this fantasy- faster than usual this time- to focus back on Ann. "But she does have good ideas on how to kill time before then."

With that, any teeny tiny doubts that Ann had about Ben vanished. Once more, it seemed that the true genius of Leslie's plans had emerged at the last minute. So with that in mind, she hit on a way to make sure that Leslie got exactly what she wanted from this night.

Ann got up from her chair, but signaled to Ben that he didn't have to get up as well. She walked over to him, although he looked confused for the first time since dinner started. "Leslie's going to want specific details about everything when she gets back. So we should try to remember every word from this part."

"What part are we on now?" Instead of answering, Ann put her hand on his shoulder, to begin her rapidly prepared speech.

"Benjamin Wyatt, I have sat in judgment on behalf of Leslie Knope, and deemed you favorable. Out of all those who have tried to join me at Leslie's side, you are by far the most capable. I don't even need to warn you of the vast, unending, hellish penalties you'd face if you lost this job, since you know them by heart anyway."

"Um….thank you?" Ben asked, although his confusion was clearing up just a little.

"Do you swear to come to me with any Leslie problem you can't handle yourself, as I swear to do with you?"

"I…..suppose I could swear to that."

"Will you provide the kind of valued service you did for me after 'The Fight', if needed to again? As I promise to do if you and Leslie are in a fight of your own?"

"I'd rather you didn't need to take that job, thanks. But yes, my valued service will be there for that other stuff," Ben promised, now that he was understanding this. For her part, although Ann didn't usually make up stuff like this, it made her feel almost as creative as Leslie, or even as goofy as Andy. But she brushed off those comparisons to provide the big finish.

"Then by the power vested in me, as a senior member, I now induct you into our special group. Go forth and multiply- but not without protection at first!" Ann wasn't planning at first to use that kind of phrase, and in that kind of context. Yet when Ben couldn't stop squirming, coughing or blushing for about 20 seconds, she felt much better about improvising that one.

And in spite of it all, Ben still recovered quick enough to shake her hand afterwards, to complete the induction ceremony.

About 10 minutes later, Leslie finally returned to the house, ready to see the fruits of her master plan. Ben and Ann were sitting on the couch, with the dinner table cleaned, and there was no sign that any silverware had been broken. So far, so good.

"Well, how was it becoming best friends, guys? That is what happened, right? At least it was better than being acquaintances….right?" Ben and Ann glanced at each other for a second, before Ben let Ann take the lead in defusing Leslie.

"Leslie, you already know there wasn't a need to worry. You know I like Ben, that I pushed for you guys to get together all along, and that I don't mind sharing you with him. But….tonight did show me why I was right about all that in the first place."

"Yes, that's all I needed to hear, thank you Ann!" Leslie rushed up to hug her, although Ann was still sitting down while Leslie was standing up. Once she released Ann from that awkward position, Leslie went over to Ben, who managed to stand up and hug her in time.

"We did manage to cover a lot in a short time. Sit down and we'll try to go over it all with you." Despite Ben's request, Leslie actually paused in thought for the first time today.

"Actually, I think we've bothered Ann enough tonight. Let's go back to my house and you can fill me in there, then I'll compare notes with Ann's recap tomorrow." This was the oddest way that Leslie had puzzled Ben and Ann today, but they knew not to argue.

"All right, go on, relieve the magic without me," Ann insisted in a comically-hurt tone. Luckily, Leslie knew it was just fake hurt, and gave her one last brief hug. "Don't worry, you'll have good magic too once you get the notes down. See you and your magic notes tomorrow!"

Leslie made her way to the door, leaving Ben and Ann to put a final bow on their night together.

"Well….thanks for the dinner, Ann. I'm looking forward to our new alliance."

"Me too. Now get out of here, nerd, don't keep her waiting." Ben was a bit taken aback, now that he realized he was outnumbered 2-1 on the nerd running gag. But he still managed a smile and headed out.

Once he and Leslie were gone, Ann sighed with relief. Part of it was because this crazy experiment ended without any setbacks, and part of it was due to the new connection she forged with Ben. And the other half was because she could finally get those damned calzones out of her house.

As she rushed to do that, Leslie and Ben made their way towards their respective cars. "So, no kidding around, you really had fun?" Leslie asked, more softly than before.

"Yes, I managed to have fun. You chose her as your best friend, so why wouldn't I have fun with her?"

"Well, I know there were a few reasons you might not. So….I figured I owed you something for postponing our date, and for being so good in there. I already swallowed my pride with the calzones, but I somehow got myself to do some deeper swallowing while I was gone."

"What did you have to swallow down, exactly?" Ben curiously asked.

"Well…..if you promise not to get too gabby or nerdy, and you promise not to jump down my throat when I complain about the special effects….maybe when we get home, I could bring myself to put in that copy of _Star Wars _I bought at the video store."

Ben's only answer was a long pause, before ending it with a big peck on her lips, and a proclamation of "Best second date ever," before he headed into his car.

Once he drove off, Leslie finally got herself to move again and go to her car. And it was only because of that kiss, and the fact that she owed him one, that she didn't take the long way home to finally expose herself to Ben's nerd-vana.


End file.
